Module+2,+Week+5+comments

Hi everyone, I created this page because I didn't want to crowd the home page, and nowhere else seemed appropriate for the instruction to "share some ideas, resources, opinions/thoughts" about cyberbullying and cyber safety.

Anyway, I had a good tour of the website we were sent to and downloaded some of the information. The tips for parents and kids on cybersmart socialising were particularly good - clear, simple and practical. In contrast the ‘Family Internet contract’, although it was full of good ideas and good intentions, is just not realistic. In my experience, contracts don’t work because they are initiated by adults trying to control children’s behaviour, and the kids know it. Doing what your peers do, or doing what is forbidden, are much stronger urges than sticking to a contract that was imposed on you. However, it might work as a topic of discussion and negotiation between parents and children. Cheers, Edit h

HI Edith,

I agree with you on the contracts. There are better ways to ensure that children use the internet wisely. I have adult step children and haven't ever had to worry about their internet use, so therefore I found the tips for parents very interesting and practical. There have been some debates/programs on TV recently that highlighted the dangers of cyber bullying and some internet activites. I really feel for those that are effected by cyber bullying, it was heartbreaking to hear one family talk about the loss of their son to bullying, cyber and otherwise. They had no idea of the extent of the reach of the bullies. I have really had my eyes opened to the issue of cyber saftey and cyber bullying in the past few weeks, by the time I get into a classroom there may be other developments, concerns and issues to deal with.... teaching students to be critically aware will be very important and giving them support or someone to turn to when things to go wrong will be crucial.

Lee.

Hi Lee - it is nice to hear from someone! The teens (and 20-somethings) I talk to are very cautious about their Facebook pages, yet still don't seem to realise that allowing 'friends of friends' to have access can mean that people they don't know - or wouldn't want to know - can access their private photos and chats. Supposedly Facebook is only for those 13 years or older, but there is no ID check. One boy (14) told me he set up his page when he was 12: "I just typed in a random birthday." Meanwhile, a 15 year old girl explained that when you get a message via Bluetooth of MMS, of course you 'okay' it. This means one nasty person can spread photos, videos, or text throughout a whole class or whole school - or beyond. She said because this had happened, her school did special lessons on cyberbullying etc. A bit late, I think. She and her friends have been using mobiles and Internet for 5 or more years.

Hopefully this is the right one for 2010. One thing I really hate about students using computers is cyber bullying. I have seen in some schools stduents putting unpleasent photos of other studnets on the internet.For example, tagging them in photos on facebook that are not actually pictiures of themselves. It is so important that sudents know the consequences of cyber bullying and how it affects people. Teachers need to monitor stduents usage. bethany